This Open Source Trigger Makes Capturing 3D Printing Timelapse Videos Easy

If you’ve ever scrolled through your social media feed and come across one of those 3D printing videos that looks like the plastic is growing out of the build plate, you’ve seen a timelapse video. Instead of recording an actual video in real-time at 24 or 30 frames per second, people make those by snapping a still photo once per layer of the print job. Put all of those photos together and you get a nice video — if you can time the photo captures correctly. LayerLapse is an open source, DIY trigger device that helps with that.

Timing is critical for 3D printing timelapse videos. It is the difference between a pleasant, almost mesmerizing video and a chaotic mess that looks people playing dominoes at 10x speed. The usual technique people use to achieve that is to move the extruder out of the way and snap a photo at the end of each layer. If your printer has its own camera, you can probably set that up entirely in software by adding a command to the “layer change” section of your slicer’s custom g-code settings.

But here’s the rub: the cameras on most 3D printers are garbage. They’re fine for monitoring prints remotely, but the video/photo quality is on-par with a dumbphone from 2008. To get a nice timelapse, you want to use a dedicated DSLR or mirrorless camera. How then do you time each capture with the layer change?

That’s where the LayerLapse device comes in. It is a remote trigger that works with most “real” DSLR and mirrorless cameras—anything with a standard external shutter release port. At the appropriate time, LayerLapse will tell your camera to snap a photo. The best part is that this will work with any 3D printer.

That compatibility is thanks to the operation, which doesn’t actually require any communication with the printer at all. Instead, LayerLapse detects a layer change sensing the extruder carriage when it moves over to the side. A magnet on that carriage trips a Hall effect sensor on the LayerLapse device’s remote board. Just attach the magnet and that board to your printer with tape or a clip, add g-code to the layer change section to move the extruder to the proper position, and you’re ready to go.

You can build a LayerLapse device yourself using a microcontroller development board like an Arduino, as the firmware is open source (though the PCB doesn’t appear to be). Or you can purchase a plug-and-play kit from Whopper Printing for $59.99.